Is Facebook going to be a marketplace too?

Picture source: ThinkStockIn the near future, Facebook would no longer remain just a social media platform -- it would also likely become a marketplace.

The social networking giant is working on a dedicated buying and selling community called 'Local Market', powered by Facebook groups. A number of Facebook users recently reported seeing the new feature appearing briefly in their Facebook iPhone app, sometimes in place of the Messenger button, TechCrunch reported.

The feature, which is only in testing and not broadly distributed, is a structured marketplace aimed at buyers and sellers, allowing Facebook users to browse through or post items to sell across a variety of product categories like autos, appliances, furniture, clothing, household, kids, books, etc.

The new section includes 'Buy' and 'Sell' interfaces, as well as a way to search across the marketplace for particular items using keywords. Items available for sale are categorized and include photos and prices.